


Harmless Scare

by kcchameleon



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Post-Book 3: Mockingjay, Post-Hunger Games, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pranks and Practical Jokes, everlark, growing back together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27701732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kcchameleon/pseuds/kcchameleon
Summary: Peeta plays a little prank on Katniss, but it's not all fun and games. Takes place shortly after Mockingjay, when Katniss and Peeta are growing back together. One-Shot.
Relationships: Katniss Everdeen & Peeta Mellark, Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 34
Collections: Crumbs





	Harmless Scare

I try to look angry. I really do, but I know a smile slips through my scowl. How could I still be upset? He's here and he's safe and he's not gripping the back of a chair or bleeding or looking at me blank and broken. He's just my Boy with the Bread. He seems so much like old Peeta. Himself. There's no old Peeta or new Peeta, just Peeta.

I look at his face. Wavy, loose blond hair. I still don't want to see his hair slicked back ever again. Beautiful blue eyes with the thinnest lines in the corners. He's only eighteen. No eighteen-year-old should have any type of "worry lines" but he does. I'm sure I do too. I never look in the mirror unless I have too.

Of course the scars are hard to look at but that's the easy part. It's funny how I never thought Prim and I looked anything alike, but now if I look at myself I see so many things that remind me of her. I can't think about that right now, I can't bring Peeta down to that place. So I let out an annoyed sigh, which only fuels his laughter.

I've never seen anything better than this. What I have right now is everything I never knew I always wanted. If I listened to my instincts, I'd have already run away, but when Peeta came back, I realized I had to finally turn my instincts off and try to turn my heart on. Of course, the whole turning my instincts off thing isn't exactly possible, but I try my best to turn them down low.

"Don't you dare do that again," I insist while pointing at him to make myself extremely clear.

I look at him, I won't lay it on too hard, I need him to stay happy like this, but I can't really avoid it, can I?

"I-I've just seen you like that… too many times for real." I whisper, barely getting the words out.

I know Peeta was just playing around, I'm so glad he's getting comfortable with me, but I still haven't recovered from when I first walked into my kitchen in the Victor Village just a few moments earlier.

I had slept in late. I hadn't thought anything of Peeta not being beside me. He isn't usually there when I wake up. Most of the time he gets up before me on a regular day, so when I glanced at the clock on the wall and saw I had slept in an hour longer than normal I wouldn't expect him to be in bed. I smelled the savory smell of cheese buns in the oven as I got up.

What I came to find when I walked through the kitchen doorway was not what I had expected, but a million times worse.

Peeta was lying on the floor with a pool of spilled flower on the floor beneath him with a small stream of blood swimming on the ground directly from the back of Peeta's head. I screamed. Maybe his name, maybe for help, maybe nothing at all. I screamed something.

I fell to my knees in front of him, tears already pooling down my cheeks in drops. I fell over him.

It would have been smart to do something like lift his head a certain way or try to stop the bleeding or do CPR or at the very least check for a pulse. But I'm not my sister or my mother. I'm not a healer, I only harm things, especially the things I care about. And most importantly this isn't just anyone it's the only person left on this earth that I know I love.

I know in that situation the next thing I should have done was call someone or run to drunk old Haymitch or Greasy Sae, but I didn't. I pray to God that Peeta is never actually in a life or death situation with only me close, because I would be absolutely no help.

What I did do was lay over Peeta sobbing and whimpering for what seems like forever, but was probably only a few seconds, until Peeta sat up, repeatedly apologized and held me like the baby I am.

I will admit that feeling his heartbeat did comfort me and convince me that Peeta was safe and sound and okay. When I realized he was alive I cried more until I finally was able to get it together when he started to laugh, likely to try to lighten the mood, though it didn't sound like he was legitimately amused.

I wiped my tears and tried to look like I was alright. I repeatedly reassured Peeta that I was just scared and that I'm fine now.

After I said the killjoy thing I said a moment ago, Peeta takes me into his embrace.

"I didn't think about that. I don't know how I didn't," Peeta looks down in absolute shame. "God, I'm sorry, Katniss. I spilled some sauce on the floor, and when I leaned down to clean it up, the flour fell off the counter. I guess I'm just having one of those days where I make a mess of everything," I can tell he's not just talking about the food on the floor. "And then I heard you coming down the steps, and though about how the room really looked like a crime scene and I just..."

"It okay. I'm glad you've got to a point where you don't think about the past and the pain every minute. It's just that, I'm still getting there," I pull away enough to look him in the eye. "I'm sorry I acted like, well whatever that was."

His arms encircle me once again. "I didn't know you were that attached to me," I feel him smile against my shoulder. I smile a little too.

"Yeah, well I am." And even though I want to say so much more, I stick with that for today.


End file.
